The Election Commission today announced the dates and phases of elections for 5 states – Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. At 12 noon, the Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi made all the required announcements in nexus with the election day and time. Counting for all states will be held on 11 March.
Zaidi also spelled out that the state of Manipur will have a two-phase election, while the state of Uttar Pradesh will have a seven-phase election.
A total of 690 constituencies will come under the elections ambit this time.133 constituencies have been reserved for Scheduled Castes, 23 for Scheduled Tribes. The rules have also been revamped for better. Candidates will have to fix a photograph on nomination paper. Moreover, they will have to declare and validate that they are citizens of India, and not sought citizenship of any foreign country. This time, colourful voter guide will be distributed to all families. This will have details of polling stations, date and time of polling, ID docs that can be used, etc.
Something which is very common to see in India is a massive population of voters. There are nearly about 16 crore voters in the 5 states. Interestingly, for secrecy, height of the voting compartment has been raised to 30 inches.
Candidates will be required to file a no demand certificate. The Election Commission also exhorted parties to refrain from using any environmentally hazardous materials for publicity.
The Chief also reaffirmed that we will conduct elections in free and fair manner.
PUNJAB:
Date of Notification: 11 January
Number of Constituencies – 117
Last date of nomination: 18 January
Scrutiny of nomination: 19 January
Last date for withdrawal of candidature: 21 January
Election day: 4 February
GOA:
Date of Notification: 11 January
Number of Constituencies – 40
Last date of nomination: 18 January
Scrutiny of nomination: 19 January
Last date for withdrawal of candidature: 21 January
Election day: 4 February
UTTARAKHAND:
Date of Notification: 20 January
Last date of nomination: 27 January
Scrutiny of nomination: 28 January
Last date for withdrawal of candidature: 30 January
Election day:15 February
MANIPUR – TWO PHASE
Phase 1:
Date of Notification: 8 February
Last date of nomination: 15 February
Scrutiny of nomination: 16 February
Last date for withdrawal of candidature: 18 February
Election day: 4 March
Phase 2:
Date of Notification: 11 February
Last date of nomination: 18 February
Scrutiny of nomination: 20 February
Withdrawal of candidature: 22 February
Election day: 8 March
UTTAR PRADESH
Phase 1:
Date of Notification: 11 January
Scrutiny of nomination: 25 February
Withdrawal of candidature: 26 February
Election day: 11 February
Phase 2:
Date of Notification: 20 January
Last date of nomination: 27 January
Scrutiny of nomination: 28 January
Withdrawal of candidature: 30 January
Election day: 15 February
Phase 3:
Date of Notification: 24 January
Last date of nomination: 31 January
Scrutiny of nomination: 2 February
Withdrawal of candidature: 4 February
Election day: 19 February
Phase 4:
Date of Notification: 30 January
Last date of nomination: 6 February
Scrutiny of nomination: 7 February
Withdrawal of candidature: 9 February
Election day: 23 February
Phase 5:
Date of Notification: 2 February
Last date of nomination: 9 February
Scrutiny of nomination: 11 February
Withdrawal of candidature: 13 February
Election day: 27 February
Phase 6:
Last date of nomination: 15 February
Scrutiny of nomination: 16 February
Date of withdrawal of candidature: 18 February
Election day: 4 March
Phase 7:
Last date of nomination: 18 February
Scrutiny of nomination: 20 February
Date of withdrawal of candidature: 22 February
Election day: 8 March
Election Commission is joining the rank of global leaders in the area of electronic transmission of votes.
